September 16, 2010

Voyage, Youn Sun Nah.

Korean sensuality meets Nordic/Scandinavian sensibility, equals Youn Sun Nah's Vovage CD.

I know, this was released quite sometime ago, and quite possibly most of our dear readers have already got a copy. I feel good things are never out dated, it just gets better with time, like this CD offering by Youn Sun Nah. Her international debut album released in 2007, under the helm of Scandinavian producer Lars Danielsson.

6 of the tracks are self penned by Youn Sun Nah, and it's those that I like the most. The arrangement is mostly sparse and sometimes hauntingly so. It's as if the silence is part of the music that's so captivating. The Nordic influence is very apparent, and if one likes Kari Bremmes(there's an album of her's called Norwegian Moods, which I'll share later), I think you'll like this too. Young Sun Nah's voices is delicate, sultry, and a little playful sometimes, but it never over whelms the album's overall dark, sombre mood. The musician ship on this CD excellent. Most music labels call this Jazz, but I feel it's much more than that, even though there are elements of jazz present.

My favourite tracks include:
The Linden
Calypso Blues
My Bye
Voyage
Come, come
Inner Prayer

Surprisingly, the track called Shenandoah, which is most promoted and the track that got me buying this CD didn't make it to my favourite list after extensive listening.

The recording quality is first rate, with dark background, and balanced tonality, Youn's voice is never shouty or spitty(unlike some female voice audiophile recording), yet the vocal porn elements of breath, lips, tongue and teeth are still there if one looks for it. There's a clarity that's natural, never sounding like super imposed. There's lots of minute studio cues here and there which will be revealed in a system of high resolution calibre.

Get a copy if you've not. Youn Sun Nah is like a breath of fresh air, in an other wise staid audiophile music diet.

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